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The Old Norse form of the name was Raumaríki, but the name must be much older (see below). The first element is the genitiveplural of raumr m ("person from Romerike"); the final element is ríki n ("kingdom, reich"; cf. Ringerike, Rånrike).

Before the Unification of Norway by King Harald Fairhair, Romerike was a petty kingdom. It had its age of greatness between the 5th and 7th centuries. The 6th-century Goth scholar Jordanes wrote in his Getica about a tribe located in Scandza which he named the Raumarici and which seems to be the same name as Raumariki, the old name for Romerike.

In Beowulf and Widsith, the tribe is mentioned as the warlike Heaðo-Reamas (i.e. battling Reamas, for the correspondence between Reamas and Raumar compare Geatas and Gautar).

In the 9th century, Halfdan the Black, the father of King Harald Fairhair, subdued the area by defeating and killing the previous ruler Sigtryg in battle. He then defeated Sigtryg's brother and successor Eystein in a series of battles.

After the death of Halfdan the Black, it submitted to the Swedish king Erik Eymundsson. However, it was forcibly conquered by Harald Fairhair who had to spend a summer to lead it into the fold of his newly created kingdom of Norway.

The centre of the kingdom was Sand between Jessheim and Garder, where the earliest settlements were situated and where the soil was easy to cultivate. In the surrounding forests there was rich game. Its name may be derived from the Raum elfr an old name for the Glomma river.

Rakni's Mound (Raknehaugen) has been estimated to date to around 550 AD (possibly 552 AD). It is located in the very heart of Romerike. Raknehaugen is a burial mound (gravhaug) from the Old Norse word haugr meaning barrow or mound. It is assumed that it is named after a king with the name Rakni. At 77 metres in diameter and more than 15 metres high, Raknehaugen at Ullensaker is the largest barrow in Northern Europe.[4][5]